Perhaps the last of the year.

This was taken during one of the more crazy weekend adventures. I believe we drove 700+ miles in 2 days, and hiked 20 miles or so. This is of Painted Hills, Oregon. I found the Painted Hills tough to shoot, especially with a wide angle. This is gated off, but one theoretically gain access with permission, which I will inquire about. For this particular image, I double processed it with Niks' Silver Effex 2. I am fairly happy with the results. I...

ushering in the new year

To everyone who reads this blog, heres' to a happy new year and hoping 2012 finds you all well. 2011 has been an interesting year. In the last 8 months, I have captured the best images I have ever! The irony is that I am using even older gear than I was in previous years. Perhaps it makes me think more about what I am shooting. I will admit that when I had autofocus lenses, I never EVER used manual focus. Summer of 2010, I had a Canon 40D, 17-40L...

Figuring this out

So I have a few kinks to work out, but I am getting my blog to where I like it. I really like the addition of the links up at the top - the only problem is that going through all the CSS and html code to remove some of these "breaks" the code since I am not proficient at coding. I didn't write this code, just editing it to my liking (or trying to :) More changes will be coming, such as menu colors, background color, etc. The twitter link, linkedin...

YES!

So i have spent the better part of the day trying to edit the WordPress theme. I am the type of person who will keep on working on something until I figure it out. My wife hates that sometimes, but I cannot help this. So after realizing that in order to change the wordpress theme, you need to have it hosted somewhere. Well, in my mind, why would I pay to have a blog hosted when I could have a website. Back to blogger I came. After some searching...

Still no resolve - but new wordpress..

So I send Google several emails, and as expected I have yet to get a response. I am not holding my breath. In the meantime, I started a wordpress. You can follow me there, and I will probably still keep this one updated (though not as much). It really is too bad, as I liked blogger. I may simply try a new layout - one in which doesn't use thumbnails; as that seems to be the problem. Wordpress is nice, but takes some getting used to. I do believe next week I will be set up for business, as I most likely will get a website up and running...

google blogspot - no good anymore?

for some reason, the images (thumbnails for my posts) are not showing up from my 2 latest posts. When you click on the post, it the images show up as they should. I have no idea why, but it has to do with google. I tried to create a tmblr blog, and the photos are linked google. The same thing happens. Googles' "customer service" is not on the same level as Apples'. Needless to say, I am going to be looking at a wordpress blog perhaps and move away from this. Having everything hosted together is not a great idea. That is why, when getting a website,...

new spirit

Here is another take on Spirit Falls. I need to get a shot of this in the spring and in the snow/ice. The water here is deep, so venturing out with out a pelican case and some rope is not a wise decision, and I have made some dumb chances before... Took me a bit to get the color on this one "right". The water is really quite a blueish/aqua color, so it messes with the white balance of the came...

hmmm

don't worry about the title of the post. Just didn't have an interesting enough name. Here is a shot from this past spring. This falls is called "Middle Ruckel Creek Falls". Kinda redundant and unoriginal, I know. The stories I heard about getting here were crazy, but they were tall tales. Getting back out to the trail was a WHOLE other story (11 hours of non-stop brutal hiking). I will end up back here this spring, but much earlier in the day, and...

selective colour?

This image looks as if I used "selective color", the cheesy and oft overused gimmick for portrait shots mostly. Not the case; just the scene looked like this - being winter (almost) and all. I will be trying to update this blog every other day, if not everyday - we will see though. Gots to get new images to be able to update everyday! For now, here is a new one....

subdued

This is one I took several weeks back. I don't think I will be able to get out this weekend, but perhaps next weekend to get some new shots. The color and lighting in this one I like, as it was way early in the morning and was cold. Also, I have a zenfolio website (trial) right now. The url will change to www.dustingentadventures.com once I decide if I will keep the zenfolio. For now, here is the website. I will be updating, adding more photos and...

inspiration

It really is interesting how sometimes I get the inspiration to go back through to certain photos, and process ones I hadn't touched previously. I believe I have posted several from Mt. Rainier in this very blog, and I know I have at several websites (500px, flickr, etc). However, I hadn't posted these two in particular. Anyways, I got the new Roots album - which I have been a fan of their work for years and years. The last two albums, they have...

an ideascape

I have though about shooting the scene for years, but always though "I'll take this later" - that was in 2007. As I was driving back from downtown PDX (shot the XMAS tree at the Square), I came upon this scene. All I could see was the fog at the end of this tunnel. These conditions are VERY common around here. Heading out tomorrow most likely to get some new stuff. Hoping I can get a proper website up soon. Here is the shot - may try it in B&W...

new website in the works, as well as print sales...

Since there are many different options to display my work, I am taking my time in getting a website up. I want to get the most (read - Best :) ) out of what I spend on a site. There are the usual suspects; Zenfolio and SmugMug. There is also BigBlackBag.com, but they charge $360 a year. With that kind of pricing, may as well pay a web designer since you pay once (usually other than the domain and such) to design a site and be done with it. OCD also...

through the ice and fog

Sorry I have been off the grid lately. Between lack of sleep and work, been tough to process new stuff - or even get new images to process. This weekend I headed out to Outlet Falls and then Multnomah Falls to meet up with some other photographers I hadn't met before. It has been pretty frigid in the PNW the last week or so, and the week before that it was really wet for about a week. Crazy weather. I have heard reports of maybe snow this next weekend,...

12th Attempt

Paul and I headed out to The Gorge yesterday to attempt to get to Weeping Walls (also has been called Enchanted Gorge). We have had a lot of rain in the last week or so, and the waterfalls have come back to life. Everything is roaring. We bushwhacked to this spot. The creek was simply to high and powerful to cross. The water did some crazy rearranging of logs and trees here. I am talking 50 foot logs that were laying across the creek (probably for...

Giving Thanks (and new photos:) )

First off, I want to thank everyone for checking out my blog. Although there are no comments, I am seeing that more and more people are visiting. I also want to wish everyone a Happy and blessed Thanksgiving. Although I am spending this day alone (my wife is visiting her mom in Eugene, Oregon and all my family is in Orange County), I have a lot to be thankful for. I have met some very good friends this past year via Flickr and FredMiranda that I...

Snowy Treks

As promised (and advertised :) ), yesterday I made it up to the snow. A couple of friends and I headed up to The Gifford Pinchot National Forest. That forest is amazing! It is much more rugged than the Columbia River Gorges' forests, yet it is not far from there. The waterfalls are also just as impressive! Our destination this day was The Lower Lewis Recreational Area. Once we got outside of Carson, WA, we hit snow. It was a few inches, and by the...

Snow and Rain - plus a new website

Several months ago, I was doing some research on what type of weather we were going to get this year. I was unsure if we were going to get a repeat of last years' weather (lots of rain and some snow), or if it was going to be milder. Well, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) outlook, we are going to be A LOT more wet and colder than normal, thanks to La Nina. What that means is that the Pacific Northwest will...

Columbia River Jungle

Perhaps the correct name for this one? This one called to me today from my Aperture Library. I know that I am on a "waterfall kick" lately, and usually i avoid them like the plague unless it is late winter or spring time. This one is the same one I posted and called "Ipsoot falls", although I cannot make a claim to the name as I didn't' "find" it. It has been referred to as "Mowich Falls", though it has no official name. I think it will look good...

Workflow

Back again! It seems that I am going to have some extended downtime (won't be shooting everyday:( ), but my wonderful wife is getting me an XBOX, Battlefield 3 and Oblivion Skyrim this week, so I will have something to keep me busy, lol. Now that I got that out of the way, I worked a photo in Photoshop and took screen shots to show you how I went about this particular image. Just keep in mind that each photo I approach differently. Before I get too...

Daily Rant and a few fall photos

I have had some down time the last few days, so it afforded me the opportunity to work on some of the shots I took on Friday. I am excited about what I have captured. All of the adventures my camera has endured the last 3-4 weeks has significantly quickened my workflow in Photoshop. I used to spend 20+ minutes cloning out the dust on the sensor, but after taking a swim in the Pacific Ocean, taking a 3 foot fall onto some rocks at Silver Falls State...

Gorge Harvest

Yesterday, we headed back out to Spirit Falls on the Washington side of The Gorge. I was there last Friday, but I wanted to see the fall colors (if any) a bit more vibrant than last weeks' trip. We took the wrong entrance into the falls, which is ironic because Brian #2 has been there 4 times previously, and I was there last week. After following some game trails for a bit, we made it. Brian #3 hasn't really bushwhacked yet, so it was his "break...

Kiwandas' Last Light

Headed to Cape Kiwanda several weeks ago for a rare sight. During a week in the fall and a week in the spring, the setting sun will light up this tunnel with her light. You need two elements to get this shot; a low tide (we had a negative tide) and a sunset (we had a pretty much cloudless sky). If you had been to the Oregon Coast (or pretty much anywhere in the PNW), you will know that getting the sunset is the biggest challenge.This shot is a single...

Morrisson Colours

Going through my Aperture library on my computer to get rid of "garbage", it lead to me going through some old shots. Just like me to get off track - or starting another task while still in the middle of another one:). This one was taken while i was stopped on the I-5 exit heading home from The Gorge in May 2010. We were stopped due the bridge lifts. As chance would have it, we were stopped in the perfect vantage point. I hesitated to get out of...

Crater Lake

I have been to this magical place many times, and in every season. I still don't have a shot of it that I am entirely happy with. I visited this place with Brian Kibbons a few weeks ago. Now I know that it is obviously too dark for details, but I like the mystery to this one.The sunrise was pretty good, with nice colors. I think that Crater Lake is best in the winter with snow. That way it will reflect the light. I guess I will test that theory soon...

Coming this spring - and a little history

I have been at this photography deal for many years. It has been really a crazy journey. My dad used to have an SLR back in the 80s. I remember him toting that around when we would go on vacation, or to the beach, park, etc. It was a Minolta, and he had several lenses, flashes; the works. In 1987 (perhaps 86') I was 8 years old and I got a Kodak Reflections camera, which I still have to this day. It was a point and shoot little camera, but it was...

Overlooked, not Neglected

Lately, I have been pretty busy that I haven't really been able to work on photos. I have gone out shooting the last 4 full days. Between that and work, not much time to post/work photos. Add in that it was a bit of work getting all the prints and stuff ready for the PDXRaw show... Some of these images have been printed up, but I just haven't posted them online anywhere. Usually I post them here first and then over at 500px.com. I have found that...

Adventures in Washington

Today a buddy and I hit up a creek on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. This creek has many waterfalls along it, but there is absolutely NO TRAIL. I was in the water for about 5 hours, and my feet are all bruised up - but it was worth it.These falls have no names. I will have to come up with some names. We discovered another falls on our way out, just before sunset. For now, this is what I have process...

Spirit Falls from tonight

Just got back from Spirit Falls on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. This waterfalls is like 2 miles from the Columbia River, yet you would NEVER EVER know there was this crazy waterfall hidden down here. I hadn't ever been here before, and my buddy who went with me hadn't either. He saw an image on 500px of this waterfall and sent me an email, inquiring what and where this falls was located. I knew immediately the details of this...

Kiwandas' Adventure

Headed to Cape Kiwanda last Tuesday to try to shoot the sunset through a cave at Kiwanda. The conditions line up only one week or so in the fall and in the spring. There has to be a low tide AND a sunset at the same tide - which any Oregonian will know that is asking a bit much for BOTH on the same day:). In any case, I haven't really started working on that particular set, but this is from the sunset that night. Scrambling up that huge sand dune...